Digital Natives

Definition:

• Wikipedia defines "Digital Native "
  • "The term draws an analogy to a country's natives, for whom the local religion, language, and folkways are natural and indigenous, compared with immigrants to a country who often are expected to adapt and assimilate to their newly adopted home. Prensky refers to accents employed by digital immigrants, such as printing documents rather than commenting on screen or printing out emails to save in hard copy form. Digital immigrants are said to have a "thick accent" when operating in the digital world in distinctly pre-digital ways, for instance, calling someone on the telephone to ask if they have received a sent e-mail. A digital native might refer to their new "camera"; a digital immigrant might refer to their new "digital camera."
• Newsweek article "Are you a digital native? "

Marc Prensky

Coined the word "Digital Natives" in his book Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, published in 2001

Article in On the Horizon: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
Article in Educational Leadership Listen to Digital Natives

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Kaiser Foundation (January, 2010) report:

"Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds "

• "A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time 'media multitasking' (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours."

New York Times article "Your Brain on Computers " Can the Internet become addictive?

• "The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored... These urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life"
• Atlantic Wired article on reactions to the NY Times article: "Bloggers' agree: The Web is killing our focus "

'The Dumbest Generation' by Mark Bauerlei

Book review in the Los Angeles Times: Bauerlei suggests that digital natives read less and less deeply